After a clear statement by the Indian finance minister about the government's position on the legality of Bitcoin and other digital currencies in a speech on the annual budget, when he bluntly said that "the government does not recognize crypto currency as legal tender"
That's not a clear statement on overall legality, though. You're twisting the meaning of the words.
legal tender:
coins or banknotes that must be accepted if offered in payment of a debt.Bitcoin isn't "legal tender" anywhere in the world yet as far as I'm aware. There's nothing that mandates a merchant accept it for payment. It's strictly voluntary. That doesn't mean it's illegal to use in most places, though.
As an example of what legal tender might look like, the US State of Arizona Senate
passed a bill to allow the state to accept bitcoin for income tax payments, but it doesn't come into effect until 2020, assuming it makes it through the state's House of Representatives.
That would be a step closer to bitcoins becoming legal tender. The law would then plainly declare bitcoin
must be accepted in that state, although, so far, only for the purposes of income tax.